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The Guidelines seek to address the problems that arise from national VAT systems being applied in an uncoordinated way. They set standards that should ensure neutrality in cross-border trade and a more coherent taxation of business-to-business (B2B) trade in services.

The fifth meeting of the OECD will take place in Melbourne, Australia in March 2019 and is expected to include representatives from over 100 countries across the globe together with officials from international organisations.

This interim report of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework sets out the Inclusive Framework’s agreed direction of work on digitalisation and the international tax rules through to 2020. It describes how digitalisation is also affecting other areas of the tax system, providing tax authorities with new tools that are translating into improvements in taxpayer services, improving the efficiency of tax collection and detecting tax evasion.

This report is a new implementation guidance to promote the effective collection of VAT on cross-border sales. This guidance will support the consistent implementation of internationally agreed standards for the VAT treatment of cross-border trade and is of particular relevance given the rapid and ongoing digitalisation of the economy.

The International VAT/GST Guidelines now present a set of internationally agreed standards and recommended approaches to address the issues that arise from the uncoordinated application of national VAT systems in the context of international trade. They focus in particular on trade in services and intangibles, which poses increasingly important challenges for the design and operation of VAT systems worldwide. They notably include the recommended principles and mechanisms to address the challenges for the collection of VAT on cross-border sales of digital products that had been identified in the context of the OECD/G20 Project on Base and Erosion and Profit Shifting (the BEPS Project).

Consumption Tax Trends provides information on Value Added Tax/Goods and Services Tax (VAT/GST) and excise duty rates in OECD member countries. It also contains information about international aspects of VAT/GST developments and the efficiency of this tax. It describes a range of other consumption taxation provisions on tobacco, alcoholic beverages and motor vehicles.